There were “significant inefficiency at every level” of the services provided by SSC, according to briefing notes prepared in Feb. 2014 Lt. Gen. Marquis Hainse, who was army commander at that time. The document was obtained by a CBC News.

Yesterday, the CBC released a report based on documents obtained from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which detailed how faulty IT support from SSC had jeopardized RCMP court cases, operations and even frontline officers.

The DND document, which was authored by Lt. Col. M.C. Arguin, said that defence department employees had to perform tasks that were supposed to have been carried out by SSC.

He said the level of service delivery from SSC had affected army training.

Another memo, this time from Lt. Col. Justin Thibert to the chief of defence staff, noted that SSC operations “often appear to be in crisis mode…leaving the impression that risk has been taken in sustaining/maintaining day to day operations.”

The memo also reported that SSC appeared not able to handle the scope of the DND requirements and that bills from service providers such as Northwestel and Shaw Cable were often neglected.

About this author

Nestor is a Toronto-based journalist who specializes in writing about technology and business. He is the editor of Vanguard Magazine and the associate editor of IT in Canada and a regular contributor to CGE.